Before It's Too Late
by NewsiesRacetrack88
Summary: Natalie loves clubs and drugs, but what will be her wake up call to stop with the whole ordeal?  Will it be Henry, or something else?


**So this is another story! Obviously! Tis a one-shot but a bit too long to be a drabble I think?**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing to do with Next To Normal... not even tickets :( yet...**

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Natalie woke up with a horrible headache. She often woke up feeling awful, but never quite as bad as this. She got up off her bed, but fell back down; she was Lightheaded. Natalie groaned. Last night was too fun. No, last night was not fun at all. She sighed. Poor Henry.

She slowly got back up and walked out of her room, down the hall, and into the bathroom. She leaned over the sink and splashed cold water over her face. She felt like she was going to vomit in any second. She looked at herself in the mirror with disgust. She was pale and sweaty. Her eyes were bloodshot and it looked as though she had not slept in weeks. She thought about her previous night…

_"Woo!" Natalie spun in a circle. She could not count how many different kinds of pills she had taken; in fact she could not count at all. She saw a figure pushing through the crowd towards her. She smiled. It was Henry. _

_ "Hey cutie, wanna dance?" She asked him playfully._

_ "Jeeze, Nat, it's 2:30 in the morning, we have exams tomorrow!" _

_ "So what?" Nat asked loudly, "I have good enough grades to miss them!"_

_ "Maybe last year, but you're one bad score from failing Calc., and I'm not letting fail!" He grabbed Natalie's arm and began to drag her towards the door._

_ "Party poorer!" Natalie said. Henry groaned. That was something sober Natalie would never say. "I'm having fun!" She whined, "If you loved me, you'd let me stay!"_

_ "Don't start that!" Henry said angrily, "I'm getting you home because I love you!"_

_ "Well I don't love you!" Natalie told him angrily. Henry looked at her. He had never felt so broken. He knew it was the drugs and alcohol speaking, but he had never heard her say that before._

_ "Nat, you don't mean that!" Henry said, just loud enough for her to hear over the booming music. _

_ "Yes I do! I wanna stay! I wanna dance! I wanna have fun!" She broke free of Henry's grasp and pushed her way back to the center of the crowd, well out of Henry's sight._

"I'm so sorry, Henry." Natalie said out loud to her reflection. She sighed deeply then stumbled down the stairs to her kitchen.

"Dad?" She called out, "Dad, are you home?" There was no reply. She shrugged and walked over to the refrigerator. Like always, it was empty. She sat at the kitchen table and opened up the morning newspaper. The headline read:

LOCAL TEEN FOUND DEAD BENJI'S

Natalie gasped, that was the club she was at the previous night. Thinking of Henry, she turned to page two to read the full story.

"A local girl was found dead at the club Bengi's early this morning. Her body was found in the bathroom at approximately 3:30 AM. It was clear to authorities that the cause of death was an overdose of prescription drugs. The teen was underage…"

Natalie did not continue. Another girl was at the club. She wondered who it was, if she had ever stopped to talk to her, if she had been someone she danced with.

It was nothing short of a wake up call. Henry was right. She had to stop with the drugs, before she ended up like this poor nameless girl, before it was too late.

Just then, Natalie's dad walked through the door.

"Hi, dad." Natalie called out, but there was no response. She walked into the living room and saw her dad leaning up against the wall, sobbing.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Still no reply, "Is it mom?" No reply.

There was a knock on the door. Dan quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and answered it. It was Henry.

"Henry I-"

"Hi, Mr. Goodman." Henry said, completely ignoring Natalie.

"Hi, Henry." There was a short pause, and then, to Natalie's great surprise, her father pulled Henry into a big hug. Natalie was never under the impression that Dan ever really liked Henry, so why were they hugging like they were two best friends?

They were both crying.

"I can't believe she's-" The last word faded away into a loud sob.

"Dad, Henry, what's going-" but Natalie did not need an answer, and she knew she would not get one. The girl in the paper was her.

It was already too late.

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**And so that is the end. **

**Dino: Rawrrawrrawrrawr**

**wow... way to ruin a moment, Dino.**


End file.
